


Differences

by thewildsrights



Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: Everyone's Safe, F/F, Fluff, No One is Hurt, Swearing, post island, they got therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:34:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29762478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewildsrights/pseuds/thewildsrights
Summary: Five years after the Island the unsinkable eight have gone their own ways but still visit one another every chance they get. After road tripping for months Leah finally finds herself in Minnesota after just a week away but this time with company much to the somewhat surprise of a blonde and brunette couple.
Relationships: Rachel Reid/Leah Rilke, Rachel Reid/Toni Shalifoe, Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe
Comments: 6
Kudos: 37





	Differences

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing and sharing, hope you enjoy and thanks to my beta reader!

It’s been five years since the Island; with the girls going their separate ways but meeting up as often as possible. Never more than six months apart.

Fatin and Dot had moved to LA together, Nora and Rachel bought a house of their own near the old family home in New York around a year and a half ago, and Leah spent most of those years studying at Yale (with Rachel being the one to visit the most as much as the other girls pretended not to notice) but after graduation has been on a two month long road trip. Martha has no intentions on moving out anytime soon. She wanted to make the most of her time with her Mom, just the two of them. Shelby had moved out a year after the Island and coming out to her family, originally staying with Dot in Texas before she moved to LA. Eventually when the time was right, Shelby and Toni found a small apartment together a few hours away from Martha to give the found sisters distance while always being able to visit regularly when they needed each other the most.

Just a week ago, Shelby and Toni had been waving goodbye to Leah as she continued her road trip, she never said where she was going but the couple felt they already knew her end destination was New York to visit the ‘twins’ or more specifically, Rachel. So it was a surprise when Shelby woke up to a knock at their door at 7 am that Friday morning, she threw her dressing gown over her pajamas (which mostly consisted of Toni’s old t-shirts). When she opened the door not one but two girls stood there.

All three stood there frozen for what seemed like hours, Rachel and Leah looking down feverishly while Shelby couldn’t help but stare in awe at the two girls holding hands on her doorstep, she almost forgot to invite them in, until Rachel chimed in with a small cough in an attempt to break the silence. “Oh shit sorry,” Shelby’s days of trying not to swear long gone after living with Toni for so long, “Come on in, Toni’s still in bed, you know her, heavy sleeper and all, you guys take a seat,” Shelby rushes her movements as she points them towards the roughed up sofa in front of the TV before running off to go and wake her girlfriend from her deep sleep. 

Shelby gently shakes her girlfriend, “Toni….Toni...TONI!” her whispers turn into shouts as the little brunette barely even reacts to the taller blonde. With a sigh, Shelby places a kiss on Toni’s forehead, who lets slip a small laugh and a smirk. 

”Got you,” Toni smirked with her raspy morning voice.

“You’re an ass. You know that right?” retorted the Texan. “ Anyway, we got visitors, so at least get out of bed and come say hi,” and with that, she left to go back to the girls waiting on the sofa.

The three of them catch up with each other as though it hasn’t only been a week since Shelby and Leah last saw each other, although it  _ had _ been a month and a half since Rachel and the Texan had seen each other. Most of the conversation was facilitated by Shelby, asking how Rachel's diving was going now that it was only a hobby, but never once asking about the two girls holding hands as she opened the door only 10 minutes earlier. It wasn’t her or anyone else’s place to ask, the girls knew each other well. Shelby knew they were now together but knew it was their choice whether or not to tell her and everyone else when they were ready, just as they and the other girls had let Toni and Shelby announce it on the Island all those years ago.

As the conversation begins to die out, and they begin to enjoy what is a comforting silence, the sound of scuffing footsteps emerges from down the corridor followed by what can only be described as a Chewbacca yawn. The trio on the sofa all let out their own little giggles, it was comforting for the visiting two to hear a sound so familiar to them. 

“Huh? Shelbs who is that? No way it’s-”,Toni cuts off as she rounded the corner and sees Rachel, and instantly Toni runs to her, since the Island the two of them had become so close, not quite as close as them and their sisters (biological or chosen) but a close bond nevertheless. Finally looking up from the ‘bro’ hug - as neither girl would admit to having a soft side - Toni saw that Leah was right next to Rachel and gave her a softer, shorter hug than the aggressive tight one the short brunette had just given the diver.

“Right now we’re all here and …. awake” chimes the blonde, still laughing at her extremely tired girlfriend. “Who wants breakfast?”

“ME!” yells Toni, as she finally snaps fully awake.

“I mean if you’re offering. sure!” Rachel chuckles.

A few moments of silence pass. 

“Oh crap you’re waiting on me to answer, again, shit, sorry.” Leah has a habit of zoning out on occasion, but they’re all used to it by now, and let her come back into the conversations at her own pace. “I think I’ll pass on a full breakfast but, if you have any Oreos I won’t say no.” 

A burst of laughter and smiles stretch across the room, emphasizing the connection between them, if there is one thing that could rival Toni’s love for takis, it was Leah's love for oreos.

One by one, they all migrate into the kitchen, it's small and there isn’t much room, yet it’s homely. Plus, it’s all Toni and Shelby could afford right now as they worked on saving up to eventually buy their first house together. “Shit I didn’t even ask. What are you making?” questioned Rachel as she pushed herself up to sit on the counter. 

“Well, with what we got left here, there isn’t too much choice so I was thinking breakfast burrito? Because SOMEONE forgot to go shopping,” jokes Shelby.

Toni immediately hits back with a playful tone. “Oi! You said it was your turn, because I took out the trash twice in a row. It’s a fair trade off,” she ends with a shrug, standing on her tiptoes to kiss the taller girl's shoulder on her way to the fridge. Leah and Rachel look towards each other and blush after seeing this, with Leah even giving her diver a little wink. Eventually, they’ll tell the couple in front of them, but not yet, maybe after food. 

That wasn’t the real reason the diver and the bookworm arrived here, in all honesty they just wanted to drive through Minnesota and found themselves lost (mainly because the two of them couldn’t stop talking and staring at each other). Eventually, they recognized their surroundings, or at least Leah did, but by then the lights were already blinking and the car was slowing down to a halt. An exasperated Rachel had let out “shit, fuck, shit, shit!” in quick succession. Once again blaming herself. Like always, the diver had gotten increasingly more annoyed, that was, until Leah offered her hand out, something which was gratefully received. 

A few minutes had gone by with them sitting there listening to the playlist Leah had made over the years of every song Rachel had called her favorite. The third song was Wasted Youth by Fletcher, a song that the diver had kept hidden from others, until Leah caught her singing it while lying in bed during one visit when Nora wasn’t home. Before the chorus even hit, Rachel turned and kissed Leah, still holding hands, their spare hands cupping each other's cheeks. In that moment both girls relaxed, it wasn’t their first kiss, and it certainly wouldn’t be their last. Once they pulled away with giddy smiles, that's when Leah suggested they should get to Toni and Shelby’s to get help fixing the car, after all, they were only a twenty minute walk away, and with that, the diver and the bookworm walked hand in hand until they arrived at the other couples door that morning.

Catching back up with events, Toni had now found her way to the fridge to search for ranch, an odd choice for some but brunette had loved it ever since she was in the third grade. Which is why the short girl let out an elongated and rather exaggerated sigh while rolling her eyes, “Shelbs, we’ve run out of ranch. I thought we bought some the other day?” Toni whines as she pushes herself up to sit next to Rachel, although the shorter girl struggled a lot more than the diver did previously. 

Shelby just laughs as she replies, “We MEANT to get some.. That was until YOU got distracted by the store over the road because they had a sale on takis.”

“Damn Toni, you still that obsessed with takis?” pipes up Leah, who’s holding in a lot more sarcasm than she’s letting out. Toni goes bright red as Rachel pulls her into a headlock on the counter and messes her best friend's hair up, just to add to the embarrassment of the whole situation. 

“Right, now, enough, you two give me some quiet while I cook. Maybe y’all could go to the shop and go buy some? It’ll give you time to catch up properly too,” suggests Shelby, unable to contain the smile at the sight of the two of them, she glances over at Leah, who boasts the same smile as her.

Leah quietly squeaks out, “Uhhh… if it’s alright can you bring back a pack of oreos?”

“Ohhh I see how it is book girl, you make fun of me for my obsession to cover up your own,” a smug Toni blurts out, barely maintaining to stifle her laughs.

“Alright, alright, out you go Toni. Rach, you're going with her too and don’t forget oreos for Leah!” Shelby insists. The smug smile drifts off of Rachel's face as she hits Toni in the side. All the diver wanted to do was just sit and relax after the stress of the car breaking down, plus her emotions were still swirling after her kiss with Leah.

It had only been their third kiss, the two of them still new to navigating a relationship, after all, Leah’s first ‘relationship’ had not gone well, but on the island she had learned how bad it had been for her. With the help of all the girls, Leah had worked her way through it, and spent most of the years full on in her studies alongside working on herself. Rachel, on the other hand, had never been in a relationship before, her life had always focused on diving, so when she realized her feelings for Leah just after the Island she wasn't confused about having feelings for a girl, but confused by having feelings for anyone at all. 

Even with this being the case, the diver had been the one to initiate the first kiss between the two, the very same day Leah had arrived on her doorstep in New York. The kiss happened in a blur, one moment that evening Leah had begun to confess her feelings while Rachel just sat and stared, frozen at the realization that the girl she’d loved for years felt the same. It was in that second Rachel did the bravest thing she never imagined she would do, and lent towards Leah and kissed her. It didn't last long, yet it still made them both blush. They had sat together all evening, finally speaking honestly about how they felt. It was something which didn’t come naturally to either of them, but the years of therapy they had all received due to the trauma of the island had gifted them the ability to be more open with their feelings over the years.

The two athletes set out from the blonde and brunette's apartment. It was near the end of summer, and the trees have begun to start their change in color while the chill has begun to weave its way into the air around them, leaving both girls to grab a jacket, Toni grabbing her mom’s old jacket, Rachel grabbing a borrowed one from Leah, secretly hoping Toni would notice and quiz her on it during the walk. The diver wasn’t dumb, she knew Toni may not ask about the situation that was _CLEARLY_ going on, but god Rachel was hoping with every muscle in her body that she would.

Bird songs and the rush of cars is what greets their ears on their walk. Well at least for the first five minutes, until Rachel couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you even gonna ask? I know you want to! So why haven’t you?!”

“Fuck, I don’t know, maybe because I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable in case you didn’t want to talk about it,” Toni rushes in to play her own defense.

“Shit, dude, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you pissed, I just need to talk about it, you know? I had no idea how to bring it up and just kinda…. snapped. It’s all so new, I’ve never been with someone before, like... ever,” Rachel finally spills out. “You know I’ve liked her since we were on that hellhole, and I really, really don’t want to fuck this up.” she continues, taking a moment to think. “Feelings really do suck, don’t they?” she finishes finally, letting out a breath that most definitely contains a small laugh.

“Damn, she already has you whipped, huh?” chuckles Toni, “Nah though, Rach, you won’t fuck this up, you’re one of the best fucking people I know... even if you can be an ass,” she adds, in attempt to make the other girl laugh. “Look, both of you are all or nothing kinds of people, you wouldn’t be doing this if either of you didn’t think this would work. My god, you’ve clearly both been pining for each other since the Island, you know she’s visited you the most, right?”

Rachel stops for a moment, “sh...she has? I didn’t know that,” the diver blushes, eyes staring down at her feet.

“God, you look like a love sick puppy. It’s gross, jeez I hope I never looked like that with Shelby,” Toni says, looking over at Rachel, who just smirks in reply. “Oh man I did, didn’t I? Anyway, this is about you, not me. I take it the two of you made it a thing recently then? There’s no way you hid it from me for so long.” 

“You’re an idiot. I hope you know that. But yeah, I guess you could say it started this week when she came over, she kind of just sat in my room and told me how she felt and I’m not sure what happened, but I just... kissed her.” Rachel stumbles out.

“It’s fun to see you all sappy you know, it’s nice, and hey, I'm proud that you sorta made the first move there. You've just got to do this and talk with her about how you feel and enjoy the company of each other. Then, after a while, talk about where you want it to go. One last thing? I was always rooting for you two, ever since you told me of your little crush,” it’s perhaps the only time Toni has looked at the diver with such pride, Rachel had gone from pushing everyone and herself to their limits, as well as pushing them away, to leaning on her friends and actively seeking help on how to maintain a relationship and make it work. 

The rest of the walk to the store is just like the start, silence between the girls as they just listen to the environment around them, but this time the smiles across their faces could not be wiped off.

Finally stepping into the store, the friends split up to go get what they need, ranch for Toni and oreos for Rachel, well, more for Leah, but the diver plans on stealing a few. They spend the few minutes they’re in there apart until they meet up at the register, Toni already said she’d pay for it, considering she’s the reason they had to go. “Not to go all soft on you dude but, thanks for paying,” Rachel let out shyly.

“You’re welcome… right that’s enough of the soft shit, let’s get back to the girls,” letting out a sigh, Toni continues, “So uhhhh do you wanna race back? Loser has to pay up five bucks?”

“Oh you are so on Shalifoe! No cheating like the last time we did this though, we start at that lamp-post there and _ only  _ on the count of three do we go.” orders the diver, never one to back away from a challenge.

“Hey it was _one time!_ Just one time I cheated. Fine, but I get to count down? So ready or not, get in place…” Toni says, as she positions herself to race.

“1…...2…...3…..GO!”

Both girls set off down the street, the shorter one already regretting this at the realization of how far they had to run. The walk back from where they were was at least eight minutes, meaning the run would make it three or four instead, but Toni was built more for a 100m sprint and not much longer than that.

Not even halfway through the run back, Toni stops to catch her breath and notices how far ahead Rachel is, “Alright Rach,'' she yells, “I guess you win,” she lets out in a mumble. The diver simply stops in reply, and laughs while waiting for Toni to catch up. The rest of the walk back is made up of them catching up, even though they still text almost daily even after all these years. 

As Toni flings open the door, she turns to smirk at Rachel and yells “Honey I’m homeeeeeee,” in the worst Texan accent any of the girls had ever heard. 

“Oh god forbid they’re back already,” groans Shelby in the kitchen, as Leah and her set the table and serve up the food. 

“Glad you got back in time, couldn’t have the food getting cold, we might’ve eaten it without you if you weren’t back in time.” Leah snarks, getting herself a glass of water and giving Rachel a kiss on her forehead as she takes the oreos off of her before sitting down next to her. Toni reaches round Shelby's waist as the blonde plates up the last burrito to give her a quick hug, before grabbing her own glass and sitting down with the Texan following moments after.

“I still can’t believe you drink that shit,” Rachel gets out in-between bites of food. 

“Hey, it’s not that bad…” retorts Toni. The other girls look up in unison and give the girl a blank stare. “Okay fine, I'll admit it's a little weird, but I don't do it all the time. Does that make it any better?”

“Honestly? No, not really, “ Shelby offers with a smile.

“WHO’S SIDE ARE YOU ON SHELB? Let me drink in peace!”

The four girls get back to eating their food, as Toni begins to pour out her drink. She would only ever fill the glass half full,it would be too thick to drink a whole glass and, well, she was lazy. She flips the lid of the newly bought bottle and pours, as the rest of the girls groan. Finally, she takes a bite of her burrito, before picking up her glass of ranch. 

“Whoa whoa whoa if you’re gonna drink it in front of us, at least do it properly,” Rachel suggests as she grabs the bottle and begins to fill the glass to the top. “You know what you’ve got to do…. WE LIKE TO DRINK WITH TONI!” she begins, with a slow clap to accompany it. “‘CAUSE TONI IS OUR MATE, AND WHEN WE DRINK WITH TONI, SHE GETS IT DOWN IN…” 

The bookworm and the Texan begin to join in.

“8”

“7”

“6”

“5”

Toni was somehow half way through her drink by now but she began to struggle, the thickness of the ranch really wasn’t helping her out in this situation.

“4”

“3”

“2”

With a look of anger and pride, Toni swallowed the last of her drink and slammed the glass to the table before the girls got to finish the countdown. Being the competitive person she was, Toni couldn't help but be extremely proud of herself, even for something so dumb.

“Jeez dude, I can’t believe you actually just did that. I know you’re weird and it’s a drink you like but my god, that's a new level, even for you.” the diver comments. Shelby, however, is too busy laughing over seeing her girlfriend try to hide the grimace of dealing with drinking it all so fast to contribute her thoughts.

From opposite the table, Toni (who is still being ripped to pieces by Rachel) notices Leah out of the corner of her eye, and catches her dunking her oreos into the glass of water when she thought no one was looking. “You guys attacking me when little miss bookworm over here is literally dunking her oreos in water! IN FUCKING WATER!”

“So you could say they are _wateros_ …” the three girls turn to stare at the Texan, “I tried… anyway, I'm not the one dunking oreos into water or drinking a full glass of damn ranch,” she continues, trying to defend herself after that terrible pun. 

Leah, blushing and rushing down the last bite of the oreo in her mouth, finally gets her words out. “You have no proof Miss Shalifoe!”

“The bits of oreo that are now floating in your drink beg to differ,” laughs the shorter girl. 

“How did I not know you do that, do I need to think about my life choices right now?” Rachel jokingly questions her girlfriend, followed by a kiss on Leah's forehead, just so the taller girl knew it wasn't a serious comment seeing as they’d only been together less than a week. This was the first time the two had really shown affection around others, including in public, the only other time has been holding hands on the way to the apartment earlier.

“Right, enough of all this soft shit. Time calls the others, it only seems fair,” calls out Shelby as she washes the girls dishes as well as Toni’s ‘ranch’ glass. 

Somehow during the call with all eight girls, Martha had suggested would you rather. Everyone let out a small groan at this, apart from Shelby, who gave a small clap at the mention. After a few rounds, Rachel decided to put in her suggestion. 

“Would you rather down a full glass of ranch OR eat a whole pack of oreos dipped in water?”


End file.
